Chapter
III - Anyone Call for a Karmali?
~Naaro
Naaro sat in his hut, deep in meditation. Today he had left home to visit the Karmali village. This was a very special event in Karmali culture, and Naaro was quite honored to be the reason the event was taking place. The old Karmali leader, Hajir, was going to pass on the amulet of Karmali leadership. Naaro was receiving it. He felt that he quite deserved it, deep down. Though he was always rather modest about it, he was quite a hero, to dare say so himself. He had saved his homeworld of Yoshin from many villains, Diablos Obsidian, the Czar Demons, and Zeta Weapon most importantly. His father had died 5 months ago when Zeta Weapon had returned from the Void, and he had taken it pretty hard. His father's dead did however lead to Zeta Weapon's permanent destruction, the beast's lifeforce being blasted out of the coil of existence for all time. It was quite a victory, considering the vicious beast had destroyed the entire planet the first time it was defeated. In his short life of 19 years he had seen quite a lot. He met the Nsiders, many of which became lifelong friends, died, returned, and saw his own power grow beyond any of his expectations.
A knock suddenly broke his meditation.
"Come in," he announced to the source of the knock.
A Karmali man entered and looked over at him.
"Naaro-Brother, it is time for us to make the final preparations to your ceremonial costume. Come with me," the man requested.
Naaro
nodded, and got up, walking out as the man held the door.
He growled as he looked into the Liquid Mirror. His adversary, that "accursed Karukylis", was more powerful than he had expected. All of his attempts thus far to kill or capture Naaro's young son Kai had been thwarted by either Naaro or his wife Rynn.
Obsidian frowned, muttering, "Damn them...I need to get that kid before he grows up and takes my immortality away from me." He got up and looked around, shouting, "Zera, get out here!"
A door opened in the dark room lit by green fire, and out stepped a skeleton adorned in clothing appearing to be from the Mongol culture.
"What is it, Master?" Zera asked, bowing before his dark liege.
"Zera,
I want you to send a few troops to that ceremony in the main Karmali village. I'm sure you've heard me talking about it.
Crash their party for me, and make sure you kill at least a few of them,"
Zera
rose and nodded, acknowledging
He walked back to his throne,
which was made of the bones of those who he had killed, and listened to the
evil ambience of the Liquid Mirror in the center of his throne room as the
ripples that slowly passed through it sang a haunting song.
Naaro stood rather uncomfortably as the tailors worked on his costume.
"You know, this is rather much for a simple guy like me...are you sure I can't just wear my casual t-shirt and jeans?" he asked, getting slightly annoyed.
"Pipe down, we're almost done," one of the tailors snapped, rather rudely considering he was talking to one who would be his leader in just a few hours.
Naaro sighed, and continued to stand in the position he was in.
"There, done," one of the tailors said proudly.
They all stepped back and looked Naaro over. He was dressed in an elaborate, loose, green long-sleeve shirt and pants with his hair let out of the dreadlocks and laying smoothly at the sides of his head. The tailors smiled and nodded approvingly.
"I believe it's time," another in a red robe announced.
Naaro nodded, and the curtains opened. Traditional Karmali music began to play, and the Karmali in the red robe proceeded out. Naaro followed about seven steps behind, moving slowly. In front of him he saw a smiling Hajir holding the amulet he was to receive, and beside him was a smiling Rynn with their child, Kai, in her arms. There was no sound besides the traditional music. This all changed, however, when the sound of hooves filled the air. Everyone turned to see a group of skeletal riders in black armor charging, led by Zera himself. They broke the crowd and ripped through the walkway, sending everyone on it falling to the ground. Naaro got up and took aim with a palm at one of the soldiers, trying to fire a Kamar beam, but it fizzled out.
"Huh?" he thought, wondering why his beams would not work.
He looked at the cufflinks on his shirt, and saw two glowing blue gems.
"Damn...Diverters," he mumbled, noticing the brown aura surrounding him now. "Just great," he grumbled as the riders turned.
They had their swords out now. He prepared to fight them hand-to-hand. Suddenly, Naaro heard a whirring sound. He turned in the direction of it, and saw a strange train charging at the riders.
"What the hell?" he asked himself.
The train kept at a steady speed,
as did the riders. The two then collided. The train easily plowed through the
riders, chewing up the undead horsemen (and their horses) with its 'wheels'. Zera was smart enough to turn and run before the train
chewed him up, disappearing over a hill.
The entire Karmali tribe looked in awe at the train. Naaro walked up to it, knocking on it as it had stopped. He stepped back as a door on the side opened, prepared for a fight. Out stepped a man in green armor. His eyes floated, and his left hand and right leg were both disembodied, yet still attached by some unseen force.
"You Naaro?" the man asked, looking him over.
Naaro nodded, saying, "Yeah, that's me. What's with your...train?"
Omega turned back at it, then back to Naaro. "Oh, that?" he chuckled, and continued, "That's just the Spectrum, our all-terrain train. You ever hear of a guy named Havering?"
Naaro remembered back to his days with the Nsiders, and his old, spherical friend Multex.
"Yeah, I've heard of him," he replied, adjusting his cufflinks.
Omega nodded, saying, "Alright, that's good. Well, we're in a bit of a spot here. You see, Havering's followers are after some things called the 'Creation's Weapons', and we need some people to help stop them. We thought you might wanna help out, considering your reputation and all."
Naaro chuckled, modestly saying, "Ah, well, that's very flattering, but hardly suiting. I'm up to it though, sure."
Omega smiled, patting Naaro on the shoulder.
"Good man," he stated, turning back to the Spectrum. "Get whatcha need and come back here...you'll need to get some equipment," he told Naaro, climbing back inside the train.
Naaro
nodded, and threw off the ceremonial garb, leaving himself in his good old navy
blue t-shirt, baggy black jeans and navy blue shoes as he went back to the hut,
taking off his shirt as he walked.
Rynn stopped him along the way. She walked beside him.
"Naaro...are you going with those guys?" she asked him.
"Yes, I am. They kinda want me to," he replied.
Rynn suddenly grabbed him by the hand and stopped him.
"It sounds dangerous, lover...I don't want you to go."
Naaro turned, wrapping his arms around his wife and looking into her eyes gently.
"Angel...I'll be alright, you don't have to worry about me. I'm sure I've faced worse then what Havering's goons can throw at me."
He smiled assuredly. Rynn tried to smile, but couldn't.
"At least let me go with you," she begged.
Naaro responded, "Baby, what about Kai?"
"We can bring him too," she answered.
Naaro stood and thought, not really liking the idea.
"I'll be worried about you, beloved...please let me go with you," she asked.
Naaro sighed, and reluctantly nodded.
"Alright, get your stuff together baby."
Rynn smiled and kissed Naaro, the two exchanging gazes and smiles for a few moments before Rynn left to get her things.
When he got to the hut, he reached over to the wall and grabbed a leather strap adorned with emerald plates, putting it on. He took the seven-foot Ocelot staff he wielded and channeled its mystical power, shrinking it down to a length of one and a half feet. He put the staff into a sheath on the back of the strap and put his shirt back on, leaving the hut and walking back to the Spectrum. Rynn walked up beside him, now in her battle gear and wearing a papoose with Kai in it on her back. She smiled and kissed Naaro.
"Thank you for letting me come," she said as the two walked up to the Spectrum.
She climbed inside. As Naaro climbed into the train, a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Huh?" He turned to see Hajir.
"Take it and go...aid these who have saved us," he requested of Naaro, handing him the amulet.
Naaro
smiled and nodded, taking the amulet and climbing inside the train. The door
closed behind him, and it took off into the sky.
The swirling, blue mass of energy encircled a chamber of stone deep within a cavern. The constant screams of the chamber's prisoner had ended long ago, and still the prison would not let its captive go. A dark form emerged from the shadows, cloaked in black. The form raised an arm to the prison, the hand still covered by the large sleeves of the cloak.
He muttered a strange incantation: "Kujoh mez naroch."
The energy suddenly dissapated, and the stone prison crumbled, leaving a skin-and-bones reptile lying on the ground.
The cloaked figure walked up to
the reptile, and rumbled, "Awaken."
The reptile rose. He had dark orange scales, and weak-looking yellow eyes. He was dressed in canvas robes, with strands of thick, slick, navy-blue hair hanging down from the back of his head, down to his knees. He groaned.
The figure raised his arm again, muttering another incantation: "Helde zihrone."
A wave of energy passed slowly over the reptile, and his skin-and-bones formed returned to health miraculously.
He looked himself over, his mind also back into health, and uttered, "Huh? How...did I get out?"
He looked up at the figure before him.
"You...freed me?"
He had to force out his words, for he was in disbelief after having been left in the chamber so long.
"Yes," the figure replied, adding, "and now you shall pay me back for my kindness."
The reptile nodded, listening.
"Rexxor Malgonus...do you remember the one who trapped you inside this prison?" the figure boomed.
Rexxor nodded.
"Yeah, it was that bastard Karukylis," he growled, showing his fangs.
The figure smiled under his cloak, though it was not visible.
"He has joined some enemies of mine...your powers have been increased greatly by my hand. You will use those powers to hunt down the man you call Karukylis and kill him so he can't help them. Got it?"
Rexxor nodded, grinning.
"You got it, whoever you are. I'll be sure to get my vengeance...and help you at the same time."
The reptile walked past the figure and back out into the light, cackling. The face under the hood of the cloak smiled cruelly, and disappeared in a flash of black smoke, to wait for his agent to find his target.